Tag: Low Carb

Several months ago I came across the yummiest flavor in all of Celestial Seasonings Teas: Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride®. Seriously, it really does taste like sugar cookies. So I got all inspired, ran into the DebbyK kitchen (which is about five paces from my computer), and on my first try whipped up what is now one of my favorite cookies muffins: Pumpkin Protein Muffins With A Sugar Cookie Twist.

Are you someone who loves the thought of eating healthy sugar cookies muffins? Then you will LOVE each bite of my Pumpkin Protein Muffins With A Sugar Cookie Twist.

And for those who care it’s sugar free, gluten/grain free, and ultra low carb.

Pumpkin muffins you make that Are Easier than Easy Bake!

My Pumpkin Protein Muffins are really easy to make, and the ingredient list is short: eggs, coconut flour, coconut oil, the tea, a low carb sweetener (I’ve tried the recipe using Splenda, powdered or liquid stevia, and powdered erythritol) , but you can keep it Paleo/Primal and use liquid stevia, erythritol, real maple syrup, or whatever your preference to keep it low carb (or not so low carb if you really don’t care!), a high quality whey protein powder, kabocha (click on the link to find out more about this pumpkin squash) or canned pumpkin, and a pinch of salt.

It’s as simple as this:

First, mash up the pre-baked kabocha in a medium size bowl.

Then, add your eggs and mix on high speed with your hand held mixer until everything is a nicely blended together (about one minute on high speed will do). You can also use a food processor. But because the batter is a bit thick, I would not use a blender since some of the batter will be stuck on the bottom and be hard to get out.

Then add in the loose tea from each packet (open each tea satchel and pour in loose tea) and blend into the egg mixture.

Next, in a small bowl mix all the dry ingredients together (including the dry sweeteners if using them).

Then mix the dry into the egg mixture until creamy and smooth, and all lumps are gone. Again, I use my hand held mixer to do this, but you can do it the old fashioned way, by hand, and work up an appetite! You will need to use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides as you mix with the hand mixer.

Blend in your liquid sweeteners here, if using them, and adjust to taste.

Then add in your melted coconut oil and water, give one last blast with the mixer, and pour evenly into muffin cups, about 1/2 way full.

You can let the batter sit for several minutes to let more sugar cookie tea flavors meld into the batter, or you can pop them into the oven right away. Either way they are great.

Now, Bake. Cool (if you can wait that long). Eat.

Pumpkin Protein Muffins that always taste great

Super soft with a crunch on top! Photo credit delightfultastebuds.com

And on top of being super easy to make, there’s no way to mess up this recipe. Really, you can’t burn these muffins even if you try. Not so with sugar cookies. Forget them for a split second past the timer and, well… Have you ever tired to eat a burnt sugar cookie?

Now it’s a totally different story with my Pumpkin Protein Muffins. You can forget about them in the oven (please, don’t try this at home) and you won’t have to throw them away when you discover you’ve had a senior moment and they’ve been cooking past their due date!

I know this to be true because I had a senior moment made the mistake of leaving my muffins in the oven (no pun intended) for well beyond the 40 minute bake time. It was more like an hour. I must have been writing this blog post!

Anyway, although my Pumpkin Protein Muffins were a little bit super extra crunchy on top, they were still soft and fluffy on the inside. Actually I’m one of those people who love extra crisp, so I was all smiles that their crunch quotient was beyond the curve!

In fact, I love crunch so much that after they’ve cooled, I pop them back into the oven again to be toasted, to bring out even more of that sugar cookie crispiness!

OH! And don’t forget to schemer a little bit of coconut oil or grass fed butter on top. You won’t be disappointed.

Super healthy pumpkin muffins for an anytime meal

It’s true! I’m not joking when I tell you that my Pumpkin Protein Muffins are great for eating anytime. They may look like a muffin to you, but they have enough protein, healthy fats, and fiber to be a complete meal (or a mini meal for some).

A little bit goes a long way in flavoring, or adding texture to a baked good. And what I love best about my Pumpkin Protein Muffins with A Sugar Cookie Twist is that the kabocha helps make them soft, with a nice crumb on the inside, yet they still remain slightly crunchy on the top, reminding me of the sugar cookies I used to eat as a kid.Yumminess!

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead! Make my muffins, and enjoy them anytime.

And for convenience, and because some people can’t find kabocha squash in their area, I used canned pumpkin.

Each bite melts in your mouth, and tastes just as decadent as my Chocolate Chiffon Brownie Cake. And if you let it sit in the fridge for a day it becomes nice and fudge-y!

These Low Carb Chocolate Pumpkin Brownie Bites are not too sweet, so you may want to add extra sweetener. But I think it’s really really good just the way it is!!

For most of my pumpkin baking treats I usually use kabocha squash, which is also called Japanese pumpkin. I love kabocha and have been using it for more than 20 years. You can read about kabocha here.

Crispy on the outside, melt-in-your-mouth on the inside!!

So here’s how I made these brownie bites:

First, I sifted the dry ingredients together, minus some of the sweetener which is used for the egg whites.

Then I beat the egg whites in a stainless steel bowl until frothy (copper bowls are best, so they say; and you can also use glass),

at which time I added in the cream of tarter. I continued beating until soft peaks formed,

and then added in the sweetener of choice (See notes below), a little bit at a time so it wouldn’t fly around the room. (In the pictures I used erythritol and liquid Splenda)

After it was all incorporated I beat for about another 30 seconds, just until stiff peaks formed. When they are fluffy, STOP your beating!

Whip it! Whip it good!

Make sure not to over beat the whites or they can liquify again. And if they’re too stiff they will get dry and crack when you are folding in the other ingredients. If this happens make sure not to panic! Just add in another egg white and carry on. It’s a learning experience…all will be OK!!

Next I gently poured the squash/egg mixture on top of the egg whites.

Then I folded in the squash/egg mixture until all incorporated.

So it looked like this,

Then I sifted and folded in the dry mixture, in 4 equal siftings, until no pockets of the dry mix was left visible.

This part takes a lot of patience and time. Because every time you think it’s all mixed in another little pocket appears underneath the egg whites. So you kind of have to gently lift that bubble of egg white/dry mix, and shake the spatula against the bowl when it appears, so it bursts out the dry mix hidden inside, and then keep folding. I told you this takes patience!! But it’s well worth the effort in the end!

Your final batter will look like this:

Try not to eat the batter, like I do!!

If you’re not too sure on how to fold flour, or any other ingredients into egg whites, refer to my Lemon Chiffon Poppy Seed Cake recipe directions and watch the video on folding.

Then I divided my batter evenly (about 2.5 tbsp per cup) into 8 greased muffin cups without the parchment paper-because they come out more crispy-and placed them on the middle rack. (Or you can use parchment lined muffin tins, but they are not as crisp on top and sides and bottom).

And finally, after baking in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes (while being tortured with the smell of chocolate wafting through my apartment) out from the oven they came. As hard as it was to do, I let them sit for 15 minutes.

Then I plated them up…

and devoured every last one. Well, that part wasn’t hard at all!!

Really, I did! Because my chocolate brownie bites, have 24 grams of protein for the entire batter. I’d qualify that as a complete meal!

Using Splenda Granules and erythritol: The first time I made these brownies I used Splenda Granules. (Yes! I eat Splenda!) This is what helps impart that light and airy melt in your mouth texture. I find that Splenda granules bake up more like real sugar than erythritol does.

Erythritol is a heavier sweetener by weight, and I believe this makes the brownie texture slightly more dense. But this could just be my own experience with it.

The recipe below is using erythritol, which gives the brownies a slightly different mouth feel; a bit more fudge-y.

Should you count Erythritol Net Carbs?: Personally I don’t count the sugar alcohols of erythritol into my net carb count, like some low carbers do. Erythritol has been shown not to spike insulin, and is not metabolized by our bodies, and even eating the entire cake doesn’t affect me.

But we are all individual snowflakes, so follow your bliss!

So if you choose not to count the erythritol carbs, that leaves the entire batch of brownies with 15g net carbs. That’s less than 2 grams net carbs per brownie!

However, in the nutrition info I have included total net carbs using erythritol, for those of you who count the sugar alcohol’s net carbs.

P.S- You can also bake these as a cake and enjoy the crispy corners! I prefer to bake these in one of those grocery store 7″-8″ cheap pie pans.

Melt In Your Mouth Brownies made with pumpkin

Alas, let’s get baking!

Note: If you prefer even more of a ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ experience and don’t mind using Splenda, check out this chocolate ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ brownie recipe.

In another bowl, mix canned pumpkin with 1 Tbsp coconut milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 Tbsp of water. Mixture should resemble thick gravy. Don't make it too watery. If the batter gets too watery, a quick remedy would be mix about 1-2 tsp of the sifted dry ingredients.

By this time, the egg whites should be at a room temperature.

Using a hand mixer with a whisk attachment, lightly beat egg whites until foamy.

Lower the mixer speed, then put in ⅛ tsp cream of tartar. Increase the mixer speed and beat until soft peaks formed.

Lower the mixer speed, then mix in the remaining powdered erythritol. Mix it slowly until everything incorporates so you won't have powdered erythritol flying around.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peak formed.

Pour in the pumpkin/coconut milk mixture and carefully fold into the egg whites. Please watch video on folding below:

Once the batter is mixed, sift ¼ of the dry ingredients on`to the egg white. Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites mixture. Repeat this three more times, until you use up all the dry ingredients.

Fill about 2.5 Tbsp batter into each muffin tin. The batter should fill about ½ of the muffin tin if you want to make them into 8 muffins.

Bake in 350F for 45-50 minutes

Remove from oven and let sit about 15 minutes before removing from muffin tins. They come out easier this way.

Enjoy!

Notes

Take your time when folding all the ingredients into the egg whites. And make sure to break apart, very gently, any lumps or bubbles of dry mix that you see.

The best way to do this is by lifting the lumps onto your spatula and breaking them apart by tapping the spatula on the side of the bowl.

Using Splenda: I use ½ cup of the Splenda granules (not the baking Splenda or packets) and then powder that for the dry mix, and use ¼ cup for the egg whites.

Net Carbs: NOT Counting Erythritol, for Entire Batter: 15gThat's for the entire batter!

I’ve always loved rich creamy pudding type foods. They don’t even have to be deserts. I’ll make just about anything into a thick gloppy mush and eat it! This one just happens to a be creamy, sweet and chocolatey low carb chocolate protein pudding! And each serving has 6 grams of protein. Great for a little afternoon protein boost.

I came up with this recipe because I had some extra room in the day for my fat and protein macros, and I was experimenting with making pudding. So I kind of just threw things together following a couple different recipes for pudding and lemon curd.

What’s not to like about a warm and creamy chocolate pudding. And what’s not to like about your pudding going a.k.a. as gelato, chocolate sauce, or a ganache for your cakes and muffins!

Well, this Chocolate Protein Pudding can be all that. It just depends on what type of self control you have the moment it comes off the stove!

And I’m not going to lie! I had to maintain a lot of self control not to spoon all of this goodness into my mouth instead of those little glass dishes. It was a challenge, let me tell you.

As I was pouring the pudding into the dishes I just happened to very intently swiped my finger through the stream of chocolate and touch the tip of my tongue with it, and suddenly my olfactory memories transported me back to my mother’s kitchen, baking chocolate chip cookies, and dissolving Hershey Kisses in my mouth.

And that’s exactly what this pudding tastes like (to me, anyway!). A bowl of melted Hershey Kisses.

And if you love Hershey Kisses you will definitely become addicted to this pudding. I’m not even a chocolate lover and I’m hooked!

It’s super quick and easy to make, and takes all of about 6 minutes from prep to fridge. (Of course you then have to wait for the pudding to firm up in the fridge!)

So go ahead and whip some of this goodness up. But I’m warning you now, you may not be able to wait the 20-30 minutes for it to firm up! Let me know how far you got…. 🙂

In another deep small bowl mix the 5 or 6 gr of a whey powder (about a tbsp), 8-10 grams of cocoa powder( about 2 tbsp), the stevia and erythritol mix ( or whatever sweetener pleases your fancy), a pinch of salt together. Whisk that all up!

Then, with a rubber spatula, mix the egg yolk mixture into the cocoa mixture and blend it all up. It's hard not to lick the spoon and just eat that. But stop yourself so you can indulge in the real goodness that is to come!! If it's not sweet enough then sweeten to taste.

Then, in a small saucepan heat 6 tbsp of coconut milk until just simmering and small bubbles appear on the sides.

Remove from stove and begin tempering the chocolate with the milk by adding 1 tbsp of the milk into the cocoa mixture and mixing vigorously as you do that, combining it all, and then continue to do this tbsp by tbsp until it's all combined.

Then, with the rubber spatula transfer that all back into the saucepan.

Now here is where you need to be super vigilant! Reduce heat to low and put saucepan back on stove. But making sure to stir stir stir that cocoa mixture. It will seem like nothing is happening. But in 30 seconds to 1 minute it will start to thicken and you will see streaks of the pan on the bottom.

Make sure to continue moving that spatula around the corners of the pan. At this 1 minute mark or slightly less you will see small curds start to form. Immediately lift the pan 4-6 inches off the stove top, but continue stirring the mixture around the pan getting in all areas as it thickens up.

It may start looking dry on the edges and you don't want this, so lift the pan higher and make sure that the flame is low.

Once those curds start forming at the beginning, when you first start to lift the pan off the stovetop, you only need to do that mixing for about 1.5 minutes. I used a timer at the beginning , but eventually you will know when to stop.

So now, take the pan off the stove and place on counter. Add in 4 tsp of coconut oil or butter, TWO tsp at a time, and mix it all in before adding in the next 2 tsp. It will be nice and shiny and glossy. Take a whiff and sweeten to taste if necessary. It will smell and taste like a Hershey Kiss.

Divide evenly into 2 small shallow dishes

Place in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes or desired consistency is reached. I don't put plastic on top of the pudding, but if you care about a film that may form you may do so to prevent it.

Or, eat warm from the dish or serve on top of some of my other delicious treats!

As I sit here on my ball, writing my post, the scent of chocolate is wafting it’s way throughout my apartment and under my nose. This is causing quite a stir. With me anyway, since I’m the only one here, and I know how amazingly good this low carb melt-in-your-mouth chocolate brownie cake is!

And I can almost guarantee that you will soon add these chocolate melt-in-your-mouth brownies to your list of ‘go to’ and ‘must haves’!

Now, for those of you who know me, or who’ve clicked around on my blog, here, and here, you know that I’ve been sugar, and processed-foods free for the past 26 years.

But that doesn’t stop me from indulging in a bit of decadence-low carb style. And that’s just how my low carb melt-in-your-mouth chocolate brownies make you feel: like you’re diving into a box of Swiss chocolates!!

They’re super chocolatey, with a slightly sticky, merengue-like top. And, they have crisp sides, which has always been my favorite part of a brownie.

Ahhhhh…and when you sink your teeth into one…it’s so light and airy… and just melts in your mouth.

They will melt in your mouth after each bite!

OK! Well, I don’t want to make you wait any longer…so here’s what to do:

Make the kabocha squash mixture and set aside.

Creamy Kabocha squash mixture should be like a thick gravy or sour cream consistency.

Sift together dry ingredients following recipe directions, and set aside.

Beat eggs until frothy, and then add in the cream of tarter,

Beat until soft peaks form,

and then add in the sweetener of choice (see notes in recipe), a little at a time, and continue beating until stiff peaks form

Beat egg whites just until stiff peaks form

And then add the kabocha mixture gently on top, and spread around a bit, making sure not to break the whites.

Kabocha mixture should sit on top of egg whites

Then fold the mixture gently into the egg whites. (You can watch the video on folding here)

Slowly fold kabocha squash mixture into beaten egg whites

Until they look like this

Folded to perfection with lots of volume

Then, take 1/4 of the dry mixture and sift it over the egg whites. Then fold this into the egg whites gently. Repeat this step three more times. It will eventually look smooth and creamy like this.

The dry mixture has been nicely folded into the kabocha/egg white mixture. Make sure that all the large and small clumps have been bursted and incorporated

You’re almost done!

Now pour this lusciousness into the prepared tin.

Tap the pan on the counter to take out all the air bubbles. Look how nice and smooth the batter is!

And bake, following the directions below, until it looks like this.

Waiting to be cut and plated for some eating pleasure!

Or if you are a square, like this!

(Personally, I prefer to bake these in one of those grocery store 7″-8″ cheap pie pans because the bottom and edges come out super crispy).

Let cool without going nuts (Oh, you can fold those into the batter at the end if you want!)

Slice and plate them up, like this, if you want!

Or this…

They will melt in your mouth after each bite!

Or this…

Almost too pretty to eat…NOT!

Honestly, I couldn’t wait this long with my first batch. They were gone, baby, gone!

In another bowl, mix mashed baked kabocha with 1 Tbsp coconut milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 Tbsp of water. Mixture should resemble thick gravy. Don't make it too watery. If the batter gets too watery, a quick remedy would be mix about 1-2 tsp of the sifted dry ingredients.

By this time, the egg whites should be at a room temperature.

Using a hand mixer with a whisk attachment, lightly beat egg whites until foamy.

Lower the mixer speed, then put in ⅛ tsp cream of tartar. Increase the mixer speed and beat until soft peaks formed.

Lower the mixer speed, then mix in ¼ cup granulated Splenda. Mix it slowly until everything incorporates so you won't have the Splenda flying around.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peak formed.

Pour in the kabocha/coconut milk mixture and carefully fold into the egg whites. Please watch video on folding below:

Once the batter is mixed, sift ¼ of the dry ingredients on`to the egg white. Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites mixture. Repeat this three more times, until you use up all the dry ingredients.

Fill your 7-8 inch tin with the batter.

Bake in 350F for 45-50 minutes

Remove from oven and let sit about 15 minutes before removing from the tin. They come out easier this way.

Slice and enjoy!

Notes

Take your time when folding all the ingredients into the egg whites. And make sure to break apart, very gently, any lumps or bubbles of dry mix that you see.

The best way to do this is by lifting the lumps onto your spatula and breaking them apart by tapping the spatula on the side of the bowl.

Using Splenda: I use ½ cup of the Splenda granules (not the baking Splenda or packets) and then powder that for the dry mix, and use ¼ cup for the egg whites.

When Debby shared her recipe to me, I couldn’t wait to try them out and it has become one of my staple low carb treats whenever I need a sweet-tooth fix. FYI, in general, I am not a sweet tooth person but once in a while, that thing kicks in.

I enjoyed her Low Carb Melt-In-Your-Mouth Lemon ‘Chiffon’ Poppy Seed Cake (in these photos, I made them in muffin tins). When she posted her recipe, she told me that the cake will go very well with my Lemon Curd, which I posted on my blog here.

Since her recipe yields extra 2 egg yolks, I am thinking instead of having you figuring out how to scale down my original Lemon Curd recipe, might as well I do it for you, right?

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and heat on a double boiler on medium heat. Stir constantly. If you don't have a double boiler like me, you could place the bowl on top of a sauce pan filled with water. Just make sure the bowl isn't touching the water.

Mix until the mixture thickens but be careful not getting it too hot or you'll end up with scramble egg yolks. (usually takes about 7 minutes at least).

Once the mixture thickens, remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.

Cover the curd with plastic wrap directly to prevent skin forming. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Are you ready to got to low-carb heaven? Wait until you try my Low Carb Melt-In-Your-Mouth Lemon ‘Chiffon’ Poppy Seed Cake. This was really just an experiment and it was the first try. I wasn’t even sure it would come out OK.

When I tasted it… I almost died. But I didn’t, thank god. Instead, I ate the whole cake. I couldn’t help it. It literally melted in my mouth.

So here’s how I came up with this delectable lemony lusciousness. I thought I’d try to make an angel food cake using coconut flour. I was hungry, wanted something sweet, it was a low carb day, and I still had macros left to consume for the day.

And when I’m in the mood for baking I love to experiment and come up with goodies that I can make into a complete meal…and gobble them right up after I make them!!

So I got to baking and this is what I ended up with.

You don’t have to eat just one slice… This is a complete meal!

It’s actually not a classic chiffon cake, since there is no oil in the batter. And it’s not a classic angel food cake because there are yummy yolks involved. But it has that spongy, light texture, it melts in your mouth, and is just as yummy as both of those cakes. As it turns out, it’s really what I was going for using the coconut flour!

So, with any angel food cake it requires that the dry ingredients be folded into the egg whites in four equal parts. I’m not sure why, but that’s what I’ve read on many food blogs, and also what my mother taught me. You can’t always trust a blog, but who’s to argue with your mother!

But folding coconut flour into egg whites is not that easy, and takes some patience folding it four times. Because it’s really boring you need to do it slowly and gently. It actually puts me into a Zen state. In fact, I’m sure making this cake lowers my cortisol with all the folding! Just another excuse for everyone to make this cake! Not to lower my cortisol, but to lower yours!

Now… Back to my making and baking…

No crumb will be left behind!

The first few times I made this cake all I did to combine the dry ingredients was to whisk them together. Then, using a small tea strainer, I sifted and folded the dry mix into the egg whites, in four equal parts.

Sifting and folding the first two of the four portions of the dry mixture was always the hardest to incorporate into the whites. It just didn’t dissolve very well into the whites, like how my other gluten free flours would.

Make no mistake, the cake never failed to come out melt-in-your-mouth, even the first time I made it. But I’m a recipe hacker, and I knew I could make the folding easier, and upgrade the cake.

So I thought, what if the coconut flour was super super fine, and also blended into the protein powder more uniformly.

The secret, which I found out after many trials of baking and eating every crumb of this deliciousness, was to sift the dry ingredients twice. ( I bet a third time would be even more of a charm, but that would be torture having to wait even longer to eat this cake!)

So here’s what I did: Instead of just whisking the dry ingredients with a fork and calling it a day, I sifted them after whisking them together. And that first sifting made all the difference.

The second sifting comes when it’s time to incorporate the dry mix into the egg whites.

Here is a video on how to fold ingredients into egg whites. Focus on the folding technique.

For my lemon cake it takes about 14 minutes to fold in all the ingredients, including the squash mixture and lemon. When folding in the lemon juice and extract I do that in about 3-4 folds, so I don’t break down the whites. Same with the poppy seeds and lemon zest. Less is more-She’s so right!

The addition of the first sifting really made the difference in how much easier I was able to fold the dry ingredients into the whites. And you can see how creamy and smooth the batter is! (It’s really hard not to eat the cake batter, so I do!).

Sifting the dry ingredients twice makes all the difference.

I really think sifting is key when using coconut flour in any recipe that calls for it, since it’s such a heavy, clumpy flour. And if you’re not afraid of a few extra carbs, like 2 of them OMG, you can always add 1 tsp of cream of tartar to the dry mix, which I find makes the combination of coconut flour and whey protein lighter, and more uniform in texture for folding.

The cream of tartar actually makes for a more fluffy crumb, and I’ll have that recipe posted shortly.

The pictures above and below are of the cake baked at 350 degrees in a convection oven, not a traditional oven, and this one was slightly under baked, where the edges are only slightly brown. It’s OK though, because being slightly under baked can also help give it that creamy melt-in-your-mouth explosion, just with a little less crisp to the crust.

If you use a convection oven, click here to get appropriate recipe adjustments.

I like my cake a bit more brown and crispy on top. So I generally bake the cake so it’s uniformly golden brown, with the edges a bit more brown and crisp. And it still has the melt-in-your-mouth sensation, equally as good. (There’s a picture of this in the baking experiment section below)

The batter also makes super muffins ( I use silicon baking cups so they don’t stick), as well as a yummy mini muffin-cake like this one below, which was baked in a ramekin.

Tastes great as a mini cake or muffin too!

Before baking this cake make sure to read all of the notes below, including my oven temp experiments, as well as the recipe ingredients and steps. So keep reading…!

Some baking notes before starting:

Oven Temperatures:

Make sure your oven is calibrated and is accurate. Most ovens are not. I always recommend an oven thermometer to make sure.

In fact my oven bounces around and I often have to keep adjusting the oven for the first half of the baking time.

Oven Temperature Experiments:

These all produce yummy cakes with slightly different textures.

At first I baked this cake at 375 for 30 minutes and let it sit for 10 a few minutes before trying ( I couldn’t help myself, it smelled so good!). It was light and fluffy in the middle, very moist. The top of the cake was deep yellow with deep golden hues. Not deep brown..but golden brown. You don’t want to let it get to the deep browned top stage, or else the inside will not have that melt-in-your-mouth experience.

However, this cake is very forgiving, and even if you really brown the top (like, a few times when I forgot-it-in-the-oven for 40 minutes brown!) the cake will still taste great, just a bit more cake-like, with a soft spongy crumb.

I also baked it at 365 degrees for 33-35 minutes. For my taste, I think this is the best oven temperature, and amount of time in the oven. I find at this temp and time the edges and top are crisp, and it still springs back to the touch, leaving you with a light melt-in-your-mouth experience. I prefer the juxtaposition of crisp and melt-in-your-mouth textures. Here is a picture of how I like it…

This is how I like my cake baked…all golden brown with a crispier crust…Yum!

I also baked it at 350 for 35 minutes (the pictures at the beginning of the blog post) and it was very moist, had the melt in your mouth texture, but the sides and tops weren’t as crispy as the 365 degree cake (and I love crispy!). This is always a good go-to temperature for baking this cake.

And, lastly, like some traditional angel food cake recipes, I tried pre heating the oven to 375, reducing the temp to about 365, and lettigng it bake for about 33 minutes, or until the tops got golden brown all over and it was still soft to the touch. These too were delicious, and had the crisp and melt in your mouth sensation.

Here’s what the squash/egg/coconut milk mixture should look like. It should be like a thick gravy, that will sit on top of the egg whites and not crash or run through them.

Get it nice and creamy, like a thick gravy!

Beating the Egg Whites:

After adding the cream of tartar, beat the whites until soft peaks, where they just fold over. Then add your sweetener of choice. Then beat just until stiff peaks form and no longer. They should look moist and shiny. So check the whites about 30 seconds after you add the sweetener. You don’t want to over beat where the whites become dry and crack.

Folding ingredients into batter:

Folding coconut flour:

As you go underneath the whites scraping from bottom, up and over, you will notice pockets of the dry mix as you fold. Be patient and keep folding. It takes time to get the coconut flour all mixed in. Just when you thought it was all mixed you’ll suddenly see another pocket of dry mix on another fold!!! Keep folding!!

Take your time, go slow, and breathe through your tummy!! This is the Zen part of baking. Be super gentle and remember, less is more. Use a soft touch, as if you were helping a wounded chick back into it’s nest. You want to be that gentle!

Frosting And Layering The Cake:

Sometimes we just need a little more decadence in our life! Layering or frosting this cake with Delightfultastebud’s yummy lemon curd is sure to take it to the next level of YUM. And it’s a great way to use up the extra egg yolks, too. So go to town. If you count your macros remember to add this in!

I will have a chocolate ganash frosting on the blog soon, too! So check back, or sign up for my newsletter to get regular updates.

Nutrition Values:

The nutrition value for this cake is for using Splenda. So the carb count will be higher. That’s why I divided up the servings into four. But if you’re not concerned then eat the whole cake if you want!!

If using erythritol/Stevia blend then I count the net carbs at below 10 for the entire cake, since erythritol and stevia don’t spike insulin. Personally no-calorie sweeteners don’t have an affect on my body composition, so I don’t stress about them. Make your own decision.

But I’m not a food Nazi so eat how much of it that you want, whenever you want. Just enjoy it when you do 🙂

Experiment and let me know what you like.

I want to thank my friend Jos, at delighfultastebuds, for baking and taking such lovely pictures of my low carb melt-in-your-mouth lemon ‘chiffon’ poppy seed cake. It was so nice of her to help out. I didn’t hear any complaints, most likely because by the time she was finished her tummy was full. Lucky for me I got such great pictures before she ate up all the goods!

I know it looks like there are a million steps to this recipe, but many of them are just explanations.

If you want more of my low carb and post workout gluten free treats, most of which you can eat as a complete yummy meal, make sure to sign up for my newsletter for weekly updates and recipes 🙂

A low carb lemon poppy seed chiffon-like cake that melts in your mouth with each bite. This cake can be eaten as a complete meal, assuming your macros allow it. So enjoy each bite til the end!

Author: DebbyK

Recipe type: Dessert/Meal

Cuisine: American

Serves: 4

Ingredients

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

2 deep cereal sized bowls

Small dish or cup for lemon juice and lemon extract

1 large glass or metal mixing bowl that is clean and dry (this is a must for the egg whites)

Flexible rubber spatula

Hand mixer or stand mixer ( I use a hand mixer, but I wish I had a stand mixer, hint hint!)

7 (best) or 8 inch aluminum pie plates (yes, those cheap ones make the cake come out the best)

Hand sifter or metal strainer (I use a small tea strainer and sift in batches)

Optional: Silicon muffin cups for some quick muffins, or ramekins for mini cakes

coconut oil for greasing tins

Ingredients:

4 Egg whites

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp coconut milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp organic lemon extract

1 tsp lemon rind zest(optional)

2 Tbsp baked Japanese pumpkin or Kabocha squash(Approximately 30gr, weighed after baking ) or any other baked winter squash, or canned pumpkin like LIbby's. Make sure there are NO spices and sugar in the LIbby's.

2 tbsp coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ scant tsp guar or xanthum gum

3 gr (approx. 1 tsp) poppy seed

7 grams weighed of a sugar free, no carb plain whey protein powder. You can also use vanilla if that's all you have but I haven't tried that yet.

pinch salt

10 gr Granulated Splenda, not the baking splenda, or packets

Optional instead of Splenda:1/2 cup erythritol (separated into two ¼ cups , and then powdered into powdered sugar) and1 tsp liquid stevia( or ½ tsp powdered stevia if you prefer it to the liquid-I don't like powdered stevia that much) Primal version

1-2 Tbsp water if needed to make squash mixture consistency of a thick gravy, maybe more depending on moisture content of your squash.

Separate eggs and let the whites sit for at least 20 minutes to bring them to room temperature

Set aside 2 egg yolks in small bowl. (The remaining yolks you can freeze for later use)

Whisk dry ingredients together with the 5 grams of Splenda that has been powdered, into small bowl (or if using erythritol and powdered stevia combo, powder ¼ cup of erythritol, using coffee grinder, and sift that with the dry ingredients, along with the stevia powder. If using liquid stevia then add this to the egg mixture)

Re sift dry mix into another small bowl.

In a cereal bowl, If using baked squash, first mash it with a fork to get it as soft, smooth, and creamy as possible. If using pumpkin just stir it to get it creamy.

Next, add in coconut milk one tbsp at a time and mash it further until it becomes even more creamy and smooth.

Then add in egg yolks, one at a time, and continue to blend with fork continuing to make the mixture as smooth as you can.

Add in vanilla.

Add in liquid stevia here if using.

Add in any water that you need to get it to the consistency of thick gravy(see picture), one tbsp at a time. There should be no chunks in the puree, but it also should not be too think and runny. It's fine if it's of pourable consistency, again, like a thick gravy.

Set aside.

In large glass bowl beat egg whites until foamy

Add cream of tartar

Beat until soft peaks form

Add the other 5 grams (approx ¼ cup)granulated Splenda, by pouring small portion at a time over egg whites and then beating, so the Splenda doesn't fly all over the place. (or, if using, do the same with the other ¼ cup of powdered erythritol)

Beat until stiff peaks form

Set aside. If it is very humid or hot in your kitchen put the egg whites in the fridge while preparing the other parts of the cake.

With the beaters still attached and a little bit of egg white still on them, beat the squash mixture one last time!

Pour squash mixture gently on top of the egg white mixture. Gently smooth them over the top of the egg whites evenly. They should sit on top without dissolving the egg whites.

Gently fold the squash mixture into the egg whites until the egg whites are uniform in color. Do not rush this part. (If you are not experienced with folding please refer to the video link on folding). This may take about 3 minutes. Be sure to get underneath the egg whites, and bring up and over, turning the bowl as you go. Slow turtle wins the race here!!

Combine the lemon juice and lemon extract in small dish.

Fold lemon mixture into egg white using about 3-4 folds. If you are not using lemon juice, use 1-1½ tsp lemon extract, depending on how lemony you like your cake. I like mine lemony!

Fold in grated lemon rind using 2-3 folds.

Then fold in poppy seeds until incorporated. They hide in pockets so make sure they all get folded in.

Fold in dry mixture, in 4 equal parts, sifting each part over egg whites and incorporating it into the whites before sifting in the next part. This takes time. And as you go underneath the whites scraping from bottom, up and over, you will notice pockets of the dry mix as you fold. Be patient and keep folding. It takes time to get the coconut flour all mixed in. Just when you thought it was all mixed you'll suddenly see another pocket of dry mix on another fold!!! Keep folding!!

For best results Bake in 7 or 8 inch aluminum tin (the cheap flimsy ones you get at Walgreens or the grocery store) at 350 for about 30-35 minutes...

Tops will be light golden brown and edges will be slightly brown, starting to get crispy. Top should still be soft to the touch. (Please refer back to baking notes above)

If using muffin cups fill up 70% to top, same with ramekins. It will make about 6 muffins

Check muffins at 25 minutes. Tops should be golden brown. For ramekins about 30 minutes. For cake, check at 33 minutes, it may be done then, depending on your oven. They are done when the tops of cake or muffins are uniformly golden brown along with the edges slightly brown.

For more of a creamy texture slightly under bake.

Let cool and set for about 15 minutes. I know... this is the hard part! I hardly wait that long!

Run a think knife around the edges.

Slice in quarters, or eat the whole thing. Who cares, just eat it now!!

Notes

Be sure to use granulated splenda and not the packets.If using erythritol, powder both the ¼ cup that is added into the egg whites, as well as that which is added into the dry mix.If using liquid stevia with the erythritol, use 1 tsp. If using powdered stevia use about ¼-1/2 tsp.If you like your cake more crispy on top then let the top get brown.At all suggested temperatures the cake will be done in 30-35 minutes. It's a very forgiving recipe!

I know, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated my blog. Yes, I’m a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to blogging. But I have been working on this post now for a few months. Let me explain…

For those of you who are on my newsletter list you’ve already been updated weekly about what’s going on. For those of you who are now just joining us here at Your Fit Day, the news is that I had shoulder surgery May 10, 2012, seven months after my hips surgery, which was in October of 2011. I apologize for the gap, but life really got in the way of my life, not to mention blogging. But now that things are settling down I’m back. Yippee!

My body went through a lot of changes during both of these surgeries, especially right after the second one, my shoulder surgery. I lost a lot of muscle on the second surgery, the one for my shoulder. I did the best I could to maintain my fitness, but because I was so close in months post hip surgery to having major shoulder surgery on the opposite side of my body, I was quite limited in what I could do.

So here’s the update on what helped keep my metabolism humming as best as it could after my shoulder surgery, and my body from atrophying as little as possible.

Why TheCarbnite®SolutionProtocol

Almost a year and a half ago, and about two months into my recovery from my shoulder surgery, I started a cyclic ketogenic diet, using John Kiefer’s Carbnite®Solution as a way to help regulate my metabolism and carb intake ( which I tend not to take in when I’m not training). And I believed that using a cyclic ketogenic diet would help me through my recovery from recent shoulder surgery while not training. I wasn’t unfamiliar with Kiefer’s book, as I’ve referred and coached many friends and clients through it over the years since the book first came out.

I like Carbnite® Solution because it has many similarities to some of the low carb and carb cycling protocols that I have used over the past two decades to maintain my lean fit body, as well as getting in shape for fitness competitions, events, and photo shoots. And also because Kiefer’s book is educational and explains well why you don’t want to go very low-carb for too long, and that eating fat is OK.

Yes!! I get to eat schmaltz!

Now, maybe I’m just a wee bit biased because several years back, when Kiefer lived in Oakland, CA, he helped me a great deal with my nutritional programming when I was doing a lot of endurance training along with my strength training. He was very generous with his information and gave me great advice…that worked.

But that aside, Kiefer is highly regarded as a fat loss expert, you can always count on him to present a ton of research to back up his programs and articles, and in my opinion he’s not the type of guy to shove a piece of schlock on the shelf. I’d say he’s on my list of to be trusted fitness authors!

My Past 25 Year Diet Overview

I’ve only been following a strict Carbnite® Solution protocol and ketogenic diet for about one and a half years now. Before this, and roughly for the past 25 years, the bulk of my meals were predominantly lean protein like tuna and turkey, deep cold water fishes, and vegetables.

I remained pretty low in fat (except what you would find in fatty fish), with small amounts of carbs cycled around my training times; sometime before, sometimes after, sometimes both.

And there were periods where I was even very low starchy carbs, relying mostly on veggies for carbs. I’ll admit, those were times I should have been eating a bit more starchy carbs with all the training I was doing.

About The Fat

It wasn’t until about four years ago that I even started cooking with added fats, instead of just using a non-stick pan.. My option was is coconut oil. The higher fat protocols were always very interesting to me, but being a child of the 80’s and 90’s I was part of the ‘low fat to no fat’ frenzy! This obviously changed as I learned more about keto diets.

I was also red-meat free up until about one and a half years ago (save for bison and buffalo when I could afford it, and the venison that my friend gave me during hunting season, which was seldom!). That’s when I added grass fed and pastured ground beef and lamb back into my diet, after abstaining for 35 years!! I can’t believe what I was missing!!

You could say that before adding red meat back into my diet I was mainly a ‘tur-pescatarian’ ( That’s my made up name for a turkey/fish eater!). But I enjoyed mostly the fattier fishes, like sea bass (back then it was not yet on the endangered list and only $1/lb for the chowder fish), turbo, and fresh wild albacore; and especially the collars, skins, bellies and remnants of halibut (I now include salmon bellies, skins and collars).

Come to think of it, fat was pretty much seasonal for me. When the halibut were jumping, which was about six months of the year, I’d venture to guess that my diet was very high in natural fat from all of the pure fish oils that were in the skins, bellies, collars, and cartilage that I ate during the week.

Halibut collars fresh from the fish monger! I would literally eat the entire collar…YUM!Photo by Jos (Delightfultastebuds.com)

I mean, literally, I’d eat the sweet bubbling succulent fat that oozed from just under the fatty crispy skins, and spoon up the savory sizzling oil right from the oven skillet! I even ate eat the bones of the halibut and salmon too. I left leave nothing! I was like am a coastal cave woman! This is how I still love to eat.

PumpIt Up

Now, back in the late 80’s and into the mid 90’s, I did the super-low-fat bodybuilding lifestyle of oatmeal, cream of rice, my veggie egg white omelets, (which I still love and eat) as well as eating five smallish meals a day. Yes! You know that diet I’m talking about!

Maybe it had something to do with the myth that eating more meals meant a machisma metabolism. But for me, having had disordered eating for a short period in my life, it was easier to wrap my head around smaller meals throughout the day, rather than eating larger ones more spread out. To me they were baby steps. And besides, it gave me back my power to be able to just eat, without stress, knowing it was building my body back up!

And I stuck with this low fat, multiple meal plan for many years, thinking low-to-no added fat, and many many meals, was the way to go. I’m not going to knock it, because I liked how I looked, felt and performed while I was training for bodybuilding, fitness competitions and endurance events.

And it was over the next several years, during the training for these events, that I learned more about how to use carbs for performance.

CyclingMy Carbs

Although I eventually gave up sugar in the late 1980’s and early ’90’s, and cut down my overall carb consumption, I of course didn’t give up carbs completely while I was training, which was always pretty hard. I just limited carbs, in the right amounts, aroundmy training, to make sure I had energy, my glycogen was replenished, and/or to prepare me for the next days training.

And if you know me, you also know that I’ve always trained with the intensity and volume of a Super HER-O Human! (Well, up until my two surgeries, anyway). So, I needed carbs in my diet while I was working out hard. Remember, I was not keto adapted back then.

In fact, when I was about 16 weeks pre-contest in body building, and in my cutting phase, it was a very common practice for me to Zig Zag my diet and go five days lower/moderate calories and carbs, with the fifth or sixth day being a ‘cheat’ day eating anything I wanted (I still limited my choices to wholesome foods and didn’t go bananas, but I ate bananas!).

It was great for me mentally and socially, I never felt like I needed to binge, and I looked forward to it every week. I even made the day into a breakfast club, where each week my friends and I would choose a different breakfast spot in Berkeley to explore.

My favorite meal was a big, 1/2 inch thick multi grain pancake with smashed bananas on top, followed by non fat (usually sugar free) frozen yogurt in the evening! However, now that I’m learning more about the hormonal responses to food (which I’ll be writing about more later) I realize that there were years in my training that I probably could have cycled even more carbs, and fats, into my diet.

My Sugar Addiction Was Real And So Was My Cellulite!

But to be honest, ever since giving up sugar 25 years ago, after competing in my first body building show (I came in at 10.5% body fat), up until doing the Carbnite® Solution Plan, I’d had a fear of starchy carbs and sugar. And with good reason: because carbs and sugar can be addictive.

I know this personally, because I had a sugar (as in gum-balls) addiction from age 16-26 (I’ll be blogging about this in the future). Once I started eating them I couldn’t stop. And I’d buy bags full.

I was like Pavlov’s dog. Just the thought of going to the market made me plan out my route and do ‘drive-buys’ for binges. Drooling all the way! Just the thought of biting into that crunchy crust of sugar-coated gum made me salivate and run for that nearest gumball bin. As a result I carried a lot of extra belly and lower body fat during the periods when I ate them.

But here’s the thing: When I would give up the gum balls for a period of 3-4 weeks I would notice that the fat melted away like magic. After several trials of this new behavior I realized processed sugar was the culprit in making me fat and squishy. Because those were the only processed sugars I was eating by that time; besides the measured carbs I was using for recovery.

So after my first competition in the late 80’s, I gave up sugar for good, while continuing to limit my starchy carbs around my training. And I stayed naturally very lean and muscular as a result, with just enough fat in all the right places!

Sugar also made me quite lethargic and very emotionally depressed, which was another motivation for giving it up. I’m so glad I’m free of that addiction. But that’s another blog altogether!

In a nutshell, sugar and starchy carbs can make you fat if used incorrectly, and/or eaten in abundance at the wrong times, not to mention all the other unhealthy things it can do to your body.

And for us girls too many carbs and too much sugar (and well, just too many extra calories) can pack on cellulite…like it did with with me, on the back of my legs. Most of us girls struggle with that, and who needs anymore struggles! I didn’t, and I knew what the culprit was.

In fact, after finally giving up all processed sugar back in the late 80’s, and early 90’s after my first body building show, (it took me a couple years to really ‘get off’ sugar; and yes, I’m dating myself), and limiting carbs to support only my hard training days, I slowly got rid of all the fat on the back of my legs. Honestlyit took many years of persistence, dedication and hard training so see it finally go away for good.

This is what cycling carbs will get you! This was my ‘5 days on, one day off ‘ ‘cheat’ meal plan. One inch thick pancakes were my friend!

And as for the washboard on my stomach (which I’m lacking now after my shoulder surgery recovery), well, let’s just say people began to drop their laundry off on my doorstep! I transformed my legs from dimpled to dazzling, and became a human washing machine to boot.

It was a lot of hard work, which included hard training sessions in the weight room, in the pool and on the track; while being mindful of how much I put in my mouth; and especially only eating carbs to suit my activity levels. So since then I’ve used carbs only to support my training. And I’m still sugar and processed-foods free.

But trust me…Nothing stays the same forever!! I had great success cycling my carbs strategically for many many years. But after back to back hip and shoulder surgeries, when I could no longer train like I had before, I needed to make some tweaks to my program. And that’s why I decided to test out The Carbnite® Solution for a while and switch over to a ketogenic diet.

So, after my shoulder surgery in May 2012, and because my lack of training didn’t support eating carbs while recovering from surgery, I needed a program that would keep my metabolism humming, and not tank, while staying ultra low carb (ULC). As I’ll explain below, The Carbnite® Solution Plan would help me to do that. And… I thought it would be fun to use Carbnite® Solution along with my clients! Talk about support!!!

So instead of falling into a completely carb free eating plan post surgery, I found that doing the Carbnite® Solution plan seriously while rehabbing my shoulder, and while I wasn’t training with intensity or volume after surgery, would be a good way to put carbs back into an ultra low carb lifestyle; and keep my leptin levels and other hormones working in concert for optimum fat burning and muscle maintenance.

After my hip surgery, (and here is Day 5 Post Op), it wasn’t such a problem since I could train my upper body, and do hard pool workouts, and utilize the starchy carbs to support my training. But without ‘training’ for several months post shoulder surgery, and knowing that I would be low carb, I knew that I would have to force myself to eat carbs so that my metabolism wouldn’t shut down. And at my age you have to do everything you can to help your metabolism along. I’m certainly not going to give up just because I had two surgeries!!

You see after staying super low carbs, even for as little as 7-14 days, your leptin levels (leptin is a hormone that helps regulate the thyroid so our metabolism stays on an even keel) start to decrease. I’m not going to go into the science of how this works here, but if you are at all interested in making your body a fat burning machine I highly recommend the book , and to read Kiefer’s article about leptin here.

Here’s my Haiku:

“On Carbs”

Go long time with no,

Makes metabolism slow.

Eat carbs, now not low. -DebbyK

DebbyK’s Abridged Edition for Carbnite® Solution:

After an orientation period of 9 1/2 days of eating Ultra Low Carb (ULC) of only protein, fat, and less than 30 grams of net carbs consisting of mostly fibrous veggies, (the purpose of which is to get your body into a ketogenic state so it adapts to using it’s stored fat for fuel; and to shut off an enzyme that potentially turns carbs into fat), on the evening of the 10th day you spike your insulin levels super high by eating high glycemic, insulin spiking, low-fiber carbs. The following day you’re back to the ULC part of the plan for another 6 1/2 days, with your next night of carb loading and insulin spiking on the evening of the 7th day. Now, rinse and repeat, typically every 5-7 days, depending.

Actually you want that spike higher than high. And it’s not just about one little dessert and BOOM! your done for the evening. And thank god, because that would be such a tease! Not to mention it would ruin the whole shebang.

No, instead it’s this lovely window of 6-8 hours (women may do better with the shorter period) in which you keep your insulin levels spiked by eating some of your favorite high glycemic foods. Yup! Eat, rest, rinse and repeat, about every two hours, starting this party at around 4 PM.

Get it? Carb ‘NIGHT’ !

According to Kiefer it only takes your body 6-8 hours of re-feeding it carbs to re-set your fat burning hormones and jump start your metabolism. Actually when you do this your body becomes a fat burning machine. Who knew!!

Now, even though this is a high insulin spiking re-feed, I still maintain a gluten- free, sugar-free, processed foods free-zone in my home (I’m a poet!). I like to describe my eating and lifestyle as ‘my own whole foods living with a primal flair‘. I try to eat in-season, fresh, whole foods that also have healing properties. Basically if it falls too far from the tree I don’t eat it! Although I admit it: I do use some Splenda (which I’m slowly cutting out). Please don’t throw pebbles at me!

Some Cautions onCarbnite® Solution

If you plan to use Carbnite Solution, some things you’ll want to avoid in extreme quantities on this night of treats are table sugar and fat. And the timing of these two are very important; sugar in the first part of the night, and fat more towards the end.

This is because fat, eaten with high insulin spiking carbs, can potentially be stored as fat if eaten too early in the night, due to fat’s slow digestion time. So I limit the fat I eat on my treat night, and have it at the end of the evening, during the last hour or so.

And why not a lot of sugar? Well, for one, sugar is 50% fructose, and, as directly stated by Kiefer on his You Tube Video, “fructose, when you’re in an energy surplus, can be stored directly as fat”. Yuck! We don’t want that!!

Well, I just avoid sugar anyway since I’ve been committed to a life without refined sugar for the past 26 years and I don’t want it or crave it; and I limit fruit, since my body doesn’t react well to fructose anyway. So if you want to sweeten the pot, use dextrose as your main sweetener.

But, I love my bananas and berries as much as any Yogi Bear, so if Ido want fruit on my ‘Night Of Treats’ I have it, but limit it to small amounts, and try to have it early on in the evening when my depleted liver can use it. But since this is a night meant to enjoy yourself, if you want to have a french pastry, or some pancakes drizzled with maple syrup, by all means indulge yourself!!

Another NOTE: Carbnite® Solution is marketed as a ‘power diet’ for fat loss. My intention for using this program was NOT to lose fat. It was primarily to have a structure that I could follow while maintaining my low carb lifestyle to (a) keep my fat burning hormones in check, and (b) use a ketogenic diet to help optimize my body ability to maintain it’s muscle while recovering.

In fact, my goal since my last surgery has been to increase my weight and gain some of the muscle back that I lost. I have done both. In the last few months, however, as I’ve increased my calories, I have also gained some fat. My non-scientific speculation is that this is some sort of evolutionary protection from being so lean pre and post surgeries, while also going through two traumas so close together.

However, I do believe that I may be going through some hormonal changes as a result of the trauma, as well as age related hormonal changes, which may also affect the distribution and accumulation of fat. Does this concern me? Yes, a little bit. I’ll be honest I loved my six pack.

Well, I may only have a two-pack now, but I’ve packed some size back onto my booty and I’m happy about that!

My Plan

I’m not sure how long I’ll stay on the Carbnite® Solution. As of late fall of 2013 I’m feeling strong and I’ve started to train heavier again with my legs, glutes, and back. Plus, I’m back in the pool now after my shoulder surgery, and I’m starting to crank it up there too! So, I think I’m ready to start cycling some carbs back into my diet based on my workout schedule. Plus, I just like the look and feel of my muscles better when they are filled with glycogen throughout the week.

For that, I plan on going back to cycling more carbs around my workouts, the way I used to do when I was training with more volume, while maintaining the ultra low carb portion of the day.

I also plan on incorporating the latest research and fat loss principals that I’ve learned from Carb Backloading® into my program (see sidebar and click on that picture of those 6 pack abs!), as well as any new protocols in the field of nutrition, fat loss and metabolism that may give women approaching menopause a better arsenal for a healthy fight against fat. Whatever I decide, I’ll be sure to let you know…

As a fat loss coach I’ve added the Carbnite® Solution and backloading protocols into my toolbox, along with my other low carb/cyclic ketogenic and whole foods lifestyle plans. And my clients who are using these protocols are getting great results. Just take a look at my client Jos.

Gluten Free Rice Four Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and Cakes

Plus, they’re having so much fun, which is key to any successful program. I mean what’s not to like: rice puddings, porridges, pies and poppy seed cakes one night a week!

In fact, I’m having tons of fun creating gluten free recipes to use for those who indulge in the low and ultra low-carb lifestyle, as well as for those times for treating and re-feeding yourself with some high-carb creative cooking…and baking.

And yes, they will all be in future posts, if I can get myself out of the kitchen long enough to write them up!!

Only kidding…I promise, they’re coming.

And now… for some shameless self promotion!

If you want to know more about Carbnite® Solution and if it’s right for you, or if you’re interested in losing body fat, gaining muscle, increasing athletic performance, or just living a healthy and fit lifestyle while using a whole foods based diet plan that is sustainable, then please email me so we can talk about how my coaching can help you.

I Love Art! It’s no wonder since I grew up with an abundance of art and music in my home; from an opera singer mom to an impressionist painting dad, as well as my brothers, sister and myself playing our various instruments and doing our own crafty things. And during those years I was drawn to jewelry making, knitting, claymation, ceramics, cooking, tile making,photography, painting t-shirts, terrarium building and landscape gardening, to name just a few!
So of course I would classify myself as the creative type, possibly a diva!

But like most of us life got in the way, and it was hard to keep up with my crafting. And as I got older I found myself not doing much more than making Holiday cards and cookies! Then about 14 years ago, after a tragic event in our family, once again I had this sudden urgent creative itch, which ran deep.

At first this resulted in the medium of painting;. However, it didn’t take me long to realize I would never be Renoir or Van Gough. I can barley draw a line, let alone a circle. No, I was painting pots. You know, the red clay ones you buy at the garden store. I bought a few, went to the art store, stocked up on color and started painting away; which only resulted in a bunch of pots in my house that reminded me of my 5th grade art class. The passion was there but I needed more authenticity in its expression.

It didn’t take me long to realize that I should be building the pots I was going to paint, not buying them. I needed to get down and dirty in some clay; really make something… or attempt to anyway. So I found a ceramics studio in Oakland-near my apartment and conveniently right next door to my pool-signed up for a class, and fell in love with the art of building and molding things out of clay.

After a couple years of this, and a house full of eclectic pieces, I considered myself an artist and was energized by the thought of just going to class. I dreamed about pottery as much as I did about lifting weights!

But then, tragically, the studio closed down for renovation. Unfortunately I couldn’t find another suitable place to do my craft, since they were too expensive or too far a drive. And when the City of Oakland’s Studio One finally did open it’s doors again, in it’s swanky new building, the price for a session had nearly tripled. While my tax dollars had supported the building of a new art studio my budget was unable to support taking a class. So my art fell to the wayside.

Well, kind of. Fitness has allowed me to sculpt not only my own body but those of 100’s of others’. But with my recent two surgeries, one on my hip in October of 2011, and another on my shoulder in May 2012, it’s been hard training clients, do art, or even garden (and won’t be able to garden for several months). But that craving to create has never ceased. And it’s getting stronger.

Fast forward 12 years later

My passion for creativity has surfaced again and it’s like a tsunami! But now I have found a new art medium: the art of baking. And so here we are, at my fitness blog, drooling over pumpkins, pies and nutty crusts, and who knows what else that lies ahead!

What I really love about baking is that, just like working with clay, I can dream up anything; and using all my senses I can bring it to life. My hands now work again as they did with clay: I mold and shape the dough, I mix the ingredients into batter, and I fire, or now bake, what was once raw. And just as I did with my clay pieces, I hope my baked ‘piece’ turns out as intended. Sometimes it doesn’t because ovens, as with kilns, can be testy and temperamental, having their own intentions. And sometimes I end up with a flop! But who cares. I love the whimsy of both: art and baking.

So making my pumpkin pie tartlettes brought me back in time… to the old Studio One ceramics class. There you would find me one with the clay, transformed with intent, immersed in another world, throwing, plying and molding the mound with my hands; and bringing to life the various shapes and beings that I had no idea could come forth from the tips of my fingers. Just as it was with clay I now find myself in my closet kitchen-my culinary studio-hovered over my counter top doing the same.

Today I’m working with ground nuts, like I did with clay, and molding the delicate meal into a vessel that holds my leftover pumpkin pie batter, which is then baked into the mini, sweet, aromatic pumpkin pies. And let’s be honest, it’s a lot easier to lick your hands when they’re filled with ground nuts than it is if they’re yucked up with mud.

These spicy tartletes are 1/5th of the leftovers from my Perfect Paleo Pumpkin Pie. But you can make and use the entire batter which will yield about 26 mini pies.

It’s that time of year again : pumpkins and parties! And that means we’re worried about our waistlines. So it’s no wonder I’ve been getting a bunch of requests for the nutritional information for the custard portion of my Perfect Paleo Pumpkin Pie.

This custard is so yummy you don’t even need the crust. It would be great just served warm in ramekins, straight from the oven, drizzled with some coconut butter, heavy whipped cream or maybe even some whipped coconut milk. So here’s the nutritional breakdown so you can go to town and be creative with my custard.

According to the line on my blender the recipe yielded roughly 5 cups of custard. Since I was only able to fit 4 cups of custard into my pie crust my recipe reflects only 4/5ths of the batter. So make sure you take that into account when you make your pie.

And remember this is great for an Ulta Low Carb (ULC) program like Carbnite Solution as well as the ULC portions of the day during Carb Backloading. It’s healthy for diabetics, and for those who are watching their sugar intake. Well, shouldn’t everyone? At least during the day.

Fat Loss Tip

In fact if I can give ONE piece of advice right now for losing body fat it’s this (and don’t worry, there are more to come!):

Don’t eat carbohydrates (sugars) in the A. M. That includes any form of carbohydrates, including milk, oatmeal, cereal, as well as fructose (this list is not all inclusive). Yup, that means fruit and juice. When you eat carbs in the morning, as well as throughout the day, your body shuts down fat burning and instead, and I’m not going to get scientific here, (I’ll let Kiefer do that) starts pushing those carbs into fat cells. UGH!

You see our bodies are insulin sensitive in the morning. And contrary to what most of us have been taught, after a night of fasting the body is in the fat burning mode in the A.M.. But cortisol levels are still high. And high cortisol levels plus food, especially carbohydrates, equals less fat burning and more fat storage. So why mess up what nature intended! In fact you should wait at least 2 hours upon waking to eat anything, so that your body can keep it’s fat burning furnace stoked. If you have to eat anything stick to fat, like a tablespoon of coconut butter or even grass fed heavy whipping cream in your tea or coffee.

Kiefer, from www.dangerouslyhardcore.com explains the science behind all of this in his very educational and easy to understand interview on Robb Wolf’s podcast. I highly recommend tuning in while your scarfing down my low carb pumpkin pie, of course!

So make sure that when you’re eating your carbs you take them in the late afternoon or evening, or even before bedtime. Who would of thunk! If you make this one change in your diet you’ll most likely lose body fat and see a difference within a month. Give it a try and stop back and tell me if your pants are falling off!

That’s why my Perfect Paleo Pumpkin Pie, even including the nut crust, is great during the day. It has minimal carbs and won’t promote an insulin surge, causing those nutrients to get stored as fat. So you can have your cake pie and eat it too!

P.S. I didn’t put the above links on the post for the lovely colors. Please click on them to learn some great stuff about how your body either burns fat or stores it, plus more…!

So indulge, please!

Perfect Paleo Pumpkin Pie Nutrition using only 4/5ths of the batter below (without the crust)

Nutritional information for the pumpkin pie custard using only ⅘ths of the recipe

Author: Debby Kaplan

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 16

Ingredients

2 cups pumpkin, mashed

3 large eggs

¼ cups Vanilla Whey Protein Powder

1 can (15 oz) coconut milk, canned, full fat

1 teaspoon liquid stevia - flavored

1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground

½ teaspoons nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions

Make the filling as per instructions here: http://www.yourfitday.com/374/perfect-paleo-pumpkin-pie/

READ THIS CAREFULLY! Fill your pie crust or ramekins with ONLY ⅘ths of the pie filling if you want your pie to reflect the macro-nutrient information for the Perfect Paleo Pumpkin Pie.

Notes

My Perfect Paleo Pumpkin Pie uses only ⅘ths of this batter.
Each Serving of pie =3.75 TBSP of the ⅘ths batter used.
You will have about 1 cup left over of batter. I did not account for that cup in the nutritional information above.
Nutrition For Total Batter(if you are using all of it!):
Calories: 1388
Fat: 113g
Carbs: 58g
Fiber: 16g
Protein: 53g
Below is the nutritional information for just the ⅘th of batter I used in my recipe.
Enjoy!!

How was your Halloween? Well, mine was great, and it really got me into the pumpkin spirit. Everywhere I go there’s a pumpkin staring me in the eyes. And now at my local food market, The Berkeley Bowl, there are a gazillion bins of pumpkins and gourds, all different sizes and shapes. My favorite is still the Japanese pumpkin, which is also called Kabocha squash. It’s my favorite because if you pick them just right the flesh is usually very creamy and dense when baked, almost like the flesh of a sweet potato. Now’s actually the best time of year to eat them; and up until about March, from my over 20 year experience of noshing.

And the bonus is that pumpkins, along with all the Vitamin A and fiber, have less starch than other winter squashes and sweet potatoes which makes them great for baking into treats, adding a nice texture without all the extra carbs. And it’s all about eating less carbs, right? So no wonder I love it. But a starch is still a starch so I watch how much I’m eating. In fact if I eat too much Kabocha I practically light up at night, my skin becomes such a glow from all the vitamin A!

And what about all those cute little pumpkins. The baby pumpkins.

Baby Pumpkins are too cute to eat!

What do you do with them? I’m assuming they’re for decoration. I’ve never bought one because I tend not to buy food as decoration. I don’t see the point. OK! call me frugal, but I’d rather eat my food, not stare at it! Wouldn’t you? Bottom line…more money for more food. That’s more recipes for you!

So, back to Halloween… I decided to buy a pumpkin, even though I live in an apartment, on the second floor, with no balcony or stoop to put it on. It’s just a small 1920’s style house with five small units that, wow, come to think about it, looks like a gingerbread house! The guy living downstairs is lucky; he has a front porch and nice bay windows that would look swell with a scary glowing pumpkin in the window. But a pumpkin on the porch in this city neighborhood wouldn’t last long anyway.

So, instead of buying and carving up Jack-O, I decided to get creative in the kitchen and roast his cousin, Sugar, and make some Paleo pumpkin pie for my friends. However, since I’m on the Carbnite Solution plan I needed my pie to be low carb, as well as sugar free, grain free, dairy free and gluten free for my Ultra Low Carb days (more about that later). OMG! You’re probably saying aloud ,’will this taste much better than cardboard?’ You betcha. Because I made it with the wholesome goodness of coconut milk, fresh pumpkin, eggs, some stevia and spices, and a lot of love! And the crust was a savory mix of nuts, nut flours, and virgin coconut oil. No kidding, that’s it. A low carb pumpkin pie. Ahhh! And wait til you taste it.

Since this was my first pumpkin pie you’d think that I’d be a bit weary of giving most of it away to my friends as taste testers. But I did. And despite having no sugar or dairy in it they all thought it was yummy. And that’s a good thing. Because nobody wants to be ‘defriended’! One friend even said it reminded her of cheesecake…it was that creamy.

And guess what? I’ve been inspired to start a separate recipe blog. I can’t reveal the details just yet. It’s super secret! But in a couple weeks I’ll have a new website up devoted to gluten free Paleo, low carb, sugar free, grain free and mostly dairy free treats. But since Wo-man can’t live on treats alone (I know, that sucks!) I do plan having other edibles that will be pleasing to your palette while nurturing your soul with good nutrition.

And if you’re in the Oakland, CA area and want to try some of my treats drop me an email at debkaplan@sbcglobal.net, Facebook me, or Tweet me. The plan is to make some goodies each week, and I’m looking for taste testers…

Sorry about the weird box below. I’m using a new format and it’s it’s not formatting correctly. I didn’t know how to fix it without losing my recipe.

This is a rich and creamy dairy, gluten, sugar and grain free pumpkin pie that is perfect for an Ultra Low Carb meal plan. It is also Carb Backloading™ and CarbNite Solution™ friendly. I don’t like the taste of canned pumpkin so I try to use fresh pumpkin for most of my recipes. NOTE: Recipe makes approx. 5 cups of batter. I used 4 cups and the nutritional information is based on 4 cups, not 5.

Grind until nuts are fine meal. Be careful as to not allow nuts to start forming butter.

Continue to pulse until mixture forms a crumbly meal and comes together when pinched. Make sure you don’t grind too much so it turns into nut butter! Stop to scrape down sides as needed.

Scrape out into mound in center of pie pan or dish

Starting from middle work the pie crust out and up sides of pie tin. This part of pie making reminds me of hand building a bowl or plate out of clay. Allow for thicker crust up the sides. Bottom can be thinner.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until it just starts to brown. Do not over bake!

Remove and let completely cool before filling

Pie crust can be made day ahead and stored in refrigerator

While crust is baking make the pie filling

Remember to turn up oven to 400 after pie crust is removed from oven

Pie Filling

In a blender or food processor add pumpkin, eggs, spices. Blend until combined. Slowly add coconut milk and continue blending until combined. Recipe makes 5 cups of batter. My pie crust held about 4 cups. I used the rest of the batter in my Pumpkin Pie Tartlets (Will be posted shortly)

Pour into (cooled) pie crust.

Do not over fill

Cover crust with foil or pie crust cover

You may have extra batter, which you can use to make my Mini Pumpkin Pie Tarts, which will be in my next post. I know, I’m such a tease.

Place pan on lower third of oven

Bake for 10 minutes at 400

Lower temperature to 350

Bake for additional 40-50 minutes or until center is firm and doesn’t jiggle when you shake the rack it’s sitting on. The edges may be brown. Since it’s a custard you don’t want to over bake it, and the knife in the center trick doesn’t apply here. Go by touch!

It’s smelling really good right now!

Notes

This is my first time using this recipe plugin. I really wanted the picture of my pumpkin pie in the box above but it won’t let me change it. So you’re stuck with the big fat pumpkin on steriods. Looks like I’ll be upgrading my plugin version!

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Disclaimer:

All information on this blog is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a doctor or a professional medical advisor. Please always consult to your professional medical advisor or doctor prior to beginning any new workout program and/or making dietary changes.
Additionally, I earn a really small commission if you purchase any products from the links on this blog.